Creative Endeavours

Month: September 2013

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Ann Williamson’s blog today is about making thin organza tubes to use as an embellishment. I’ve been meaning to give this technique a try – the blog encourages me to cut a couple of organza bias strips, sew them, turn them out and add them to something!

See what I mean? How cool is this?

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I’ve lost count of how many pairs of socks I’ve actually knit – this was somewhere around pair 300 – while I thought I might keep them, my sock drawer is full, I’ve added them to the give away pile.
Already started the next pair – can’t have the needles idle.

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I subscribe to Ann Williamson’s blog so once a week I get an email with photos showcasing what she’s working on. Ann, if you’ll recall, is this wonderful designer of custom apparel made from pieced kimono silk. I met her on the Portland trip. And since then I’ve ordered some kimono silk myself and am trying to create a bit of time to decide what to make from it – I read Ann’s blog with interest:

This week, Ann’s working on a third pieced silk skirt to go with a jacket she made in the spring. Skirt #1 & 2 have sold, so to have a complete outfit, she’s making a third skirt.

You can see the detailed work she does from these three gored pieces for the skirt. I love her sense of colour and her work is meticulous. I really must get out my silk and think about making something!

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Here is the finished, framed landscape quilt – Asparagus Field. It all started with a photo I took a couple of years ago on a fall photography excursion with David Lacey. Click on the photo to see an enlarged version where you can see detail.

And here it is complete with a signature:

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The detail stitch work is done. Today I worked on the asparagus field; it turned out to be easier to do than I thought it would be – I think the practice I did yesterday definitely helped. I also picked out the stitching for the small shrub beside the front door, and replaced it with something more recognizable as a small evergreen tree. I also added a few small evergreens just behind the house to provide a bit more Interest to the skyline.

Now I have to figure out how to “frame” the piece – I think I’m going to add a 2 1/2″ “frame” with piping on the inside edge (using the batik fabric I used as the underlay for the asparagus field). That’s for tomorrow.

Have I ever learned a lot about how to think about an art quilt piece. Some aspects of this quilt were done out of order – in part because Laurie was moving us along so we’d have the batting covered by the end of the workshop. I now realize the sky should have been tied down first – that would have avoided the big bubble in the sky fabric. The “woods” on the left were out of synch – the dark underlay should have been much less extensive so that the tree elements could have been positioned against the sky with sky showing through the trees. Also that would have allowed a more irregular skyline. The asparagus field in the foreground should not have been added until everything behind it was almost complete – I had to fight the free motion stitch work because the asparagus was already present.

Last, I came to realize in the beginning I was too tied to the tracing of the photo – this kind of art quilt needs a lot of improvisation. The original tracing is mainly to help set out the large areas of a piece – the details, however have to be invented as the work unfolds. It’s also clear that I need to carefully study a photo before I begin – just how carefully I didn’t appreciate before I began.

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Made more progress today – I dug out my copy of “Birds of North America” to find flight profiles of some local birds which I used to create a couple of birds (remember I needed them to cover dark spots in the sky). I started stitching the trees on the left – the tree trunks, the foliage – realized I should have removed much more of the green underlay Friday night when I was taking all that stitching out! At the moment you can see the tree trunks close up, but they don’t show from a distance because they’re lost against that dark green underly. They need something to give them texture (not thread painting, I don’t think – although I’ll try a sample), in the end I may just live with what I have – this, after all is a learning experience.

Tomorrow – gotta tackle the asparagus field itself.

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Worked on the trees and shrubs on the right side of the piece this morning:
Also added texture to the roof, although it doesn’t show in the photo.
Next, those trees on the left!
Oh, and I fixed the bubbling in the sky – I split the interfacing in the back to allow me to spread it a wee bit, enough to let the sky lay flat.